They are in the data business, and yet are reluctant to commit to technologies that ensure the data on a substrate is accurate. Printing companies have embraced digital processing early on and have expanded on the back of process control and automation. They understand that serving customers requires anticipation of changing needs, from personalised postcards to custom packaging.

Leading into the twilight zone of my career in the graphics industry has led me to some curious ponderings. Some of them, like the early days working with Apple and Adobe, have been shamelessly nostalgic. But others have been laced with deep frustration. The frustration comes from the fact that we haven’t made faster progress to advance the industry, as it lumbers into the digital age. The stand out annoyances are automated colour management and recycling, both of which have a profound impact on the environmental impact of print.

Recycling is a much harder nut to crack than getting data onto a substrate, but the same principle applies. Recycling requires complex changes in raw material supply chains and anticipation of what is required to take used product and turn it into something new. The paper industry reprocesses a mixture of different types of printed products sourced from homes, factories, municipal facilities and elsewhere. There is no control whatsoever in the type of prints that make up these mixtures, so they are inevitably blends of materials printed using different printing methods from gravure and flexo to digital. This really shouldn’t matter because processing technology for recycling should align with technical advances in print.

But for the pulp and paper industry it does matter. It matters a lot because the mix includes printed papers made up different compositions that needs new processing methods and the associated investment. Traditionally the mix has been mostly mechanical pulp fibres based on wood, but printing technology advances mean the percentage woodfree pulp fibres is steadily increasing. Prints sent for recycling will not necessarily be deinkable using methods designed for mechanical pulp and old style offset printing. Such prints will generally fail the industry’s favourite test for deinkability as outlined in ISO 21993. This document describes a deinking test method developed decades ago by INGEDE, an industry association for deinking.

The good news is that ISO is developing a document that describes another test method for mixtures of mechanical and wood free papers. This will far better reflect industry reality and hopefully encourage pulp and paper mill owners to invest in their own futures. The alternative is more waste paper being incinerated rather than recycled, something no one wants.

This article was produced by the Verdigris Project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. Verdigris is supported by: FESPA (www.fespa.com), Fujifilm (www.fujifilm.com/sustainability/), HP (www.hp.com), Kodak (www.Kodak.com/go/sustainability), Practical Publishing (www.practicalpublishing.co.za), Miraclon (https://miraclon.com), Unity Publishing (http://unity-publishing.co.uk) and Xeikon (www.xeikon.com).

THE VERDIGRIS PROJECT
http://verdigrisproject.com/

The pandemic has been the most challenging experience of our lifetime. As the dust settles and we begin to emerge out of the haze of lockdowns and uncertainty, opportunity knocks on the horizon. The global economy’s recovery is predicted to occur at an accelerated pace than initially expected, so many businesses are desperate to take advantage and make up for lost time (and sales).

To grab these opportunities, though, a change in mindset needs to take place, according to Canon South Africa Managing Director, David Preston. ‘It is about reanalysing and challenging the values that we want to possess to reach the next level,’ he added. ‘This is not only as individuals but collectively as a business.’

For Preston, it’s about three P’s. The first P is proactivity. Preston believes the days of top-down management are harmful to organisations in the long run as they encourage passiveness. ‘A business cannot move forward if people fear initiative because they need to be told what to do by someone else,’ he said.

‘An initiative-taking approach means looking at the business more holistically and with a solution-orientated mindset. If there is a way to improve a process or to solve an issue, come forward with the suggestion instead of waiting for someone else to initiate the next step.’ A simple example of proactivity could be answering a colleague’s phone or taking the lead to reply to a customer email, according to Preston.

Professionalism is the second P, and it’s directly linked to proactivity. ‘As a business, it is important to be professional in the face of adversity and to keep emotions in check,’ Preston explained. ‘Sometimes, customers experience challenges with a business and their responses might be emotional due to frustration or the lack of communication.’ If businesses are to truly become customer-centric at all touchpoints, Preston added, they need to have the mindset of changing a negative experience into a positive one through their communication skills and proactive approach, rather than through emotional reactions.

‘Professionalism also means adding value within our internal and external teams,’ Preston said. ‘We need to understand our products and the markets we sell into, so that we add real value to partners and customers. If they are not sure about something, rather double-check and ask the necessary questions for a better understanding of the situation.’

Preston believes that if a business follows the first two P’s, the final one, performance, will come naturally. ‘By all of us buying into the values and working together, we are capable of building a collaborative spirit and can-do culture that will have a direct impact on success and performance, which will be seen through the increased sales and satisfied customers,’ he said. ‘This, in turn, allows a business to invest in itself going forward, recruit more talent and to promote and reward its people.’

In conclusion, Preston stressed that performance can only be achieved if proactivity and professionalism are in place from the start. With the marketplace being highly competitive and with similar products and services all aimed at the same customer base, the only way to stand out from competitors is in the core values and how businesses conduct themselves, both internally and externally.

CANON
https://www.canon.co.za/

For the foreseeable future, business around the world will have to continue navigating an unpredictable environment due to Covid-19. As we have all come to adapt to new ways of working, it is also important to understand how the pandemic has changed customer service and how companies should engage with the ‘new normal customer’.

One thing that will never change though is that the ‘customer is king’. A highly personalised customer service experience, quick responses and resolutions to inquiries, an empathetic human touch and a positive emotional connection with a brand or service provider — around the clock, 365 days a year — is what the customer of today wants.

International CRM software solutions provider Salesforce’s recent State of the Connected Customer Report revealed that in South Africa, 89% of consumers say experience is as important as products and services, and 61% say they prefer those products and services to be personalised. It was also found that 78% of respondents in South Africa say businesses must improve their trustworthiness. Additionally, 70% and 61% say businesses must improve their environmental and social practices, respectively.

Impact of the pandemic on customer service

Companies have been forced to initiate significant changes to their CX strategies and approaches. A key factor has been to take stock of the profound changes that have occurred in customers’ daily lives and for companies to figure out how those changes realistically impact their business.

Some of the key focus areas that have emerged in customer service include:

Personalisation: isolation has been one of the toughest side effects of the pandemic for humans across the world. It has however given us an increased appreciation for connection, resulting in a greater demand for personal customer service and human interaction.‌ Personalisation also helps to build a solid foundation for a trusting relationship.

Relationships: this remains as the core element of customer service. Building them, however, has become more important.

Transparency and clear communication: during these trying times, transparent and consistent messages that provide reassurance are critical. All communication channels must be open and well-manned as customers want to feel and be heard. Communication around safety compliance is also essential — company representatives must be able to explain and defend all safety measures that are in place, as well as enact them as this will give reassurance to customers as they might be nervous visiting the company’s facilities.

Stability: it is important for companies to be a source of stability during these challenging and uncertain times. Customers are now requiring extra reassurance and support when they are making a purchase or consuming services. Companies need to respond with easily accessible information, clear guidance and extra assistance to help people continue to navigate the pandemic safely and effectively.

Cost-effectiveness: customers are now forced to reassess their buying decisions more than ever given the tough economic climate. With this pressure, there is less tolerance for poor brand experiences and people want to be certain that they get the best ‘bang for their buck’.

Empathy: due to the lack of face-to-face contact caused by lockdown restrictions, many complex and sensitive issues arise that are unique to this crisis period that we are currently living in. This requires companies to be more understanding. Focusing more on personal attention and providing empathy in one’s service offering will succeed in creating strong, long-lasting bonds with customers.

Peter Metcalfe, Group Executive: Sales and Marketing at Novus Holdings added, ‘Everyone is struggling right now, and in order to address your customers’ fears and worries, you need to truly listen to them. To remain successful as a business, you need to do whatever it takes to make your customers feel that they are being taken care of as best as possible.’

Authenticity and effortlessness: the main goal is to make customers’ lives easier. While we have had to become accustomed to navigating many restrictions that cause frustrations, it remains imperative to offer a timely, caring and authentic service that still includes setting realistic expectations.

Now more than ever, companies need to stay connected to their customers to truly understand their requirements and deliver a consistent and satisfying experience with every interaction, taking each detail very seriously. ‘At the end of the day, excellent customer service is not a one-person show. It’s a company-wide effort that requires everyone to be on board and committed to best practices and delivering excellent results,’ said Metcalfe.

He concluded, ‘While much has changed in commerce due to the pandemic, what will always remain the number one priority is your customers, and the fact that a successful business will consistently stay in tune with what their customers really value.’

NOVUS HOLDINGS
+27 21 550 2500
info@novus.holdings
http://www.novus.holdings

Join FUJIFILM Graphic Systems for a two-part webinar series where the company will discuss insights and feedback from Printing SA’s recent engagements with Government on how their members have been directly affected and some of the measures being implemented in order to rebuild and recover.

The South African printing industry and its suppliers contribute approximately R55 billion to gross domestic product and provide around 45,000 jobs. Based on these facts, it’s safe to say that the printing industry’s recovery is of significant importance to the economy and South Africa’s recovery.

South African Typographical Union (SATU) will share insights on the same and highlight the impact on the labour force and measures that they have implemented on behalf of their members to ensure that they assist in the rebuilding and recovery of the printing industry.

Discussion panel members

Guest speakers:

– Printing SA: CEO – Dr. Abdool Majid Mohamed.
– Printing SA: Marketing Manager and B-BBEE Specialist Abisha Katerere.
– SATU: General Secretary – Edward De Klerk (representing labour union).
– FUJIFILM Graphic Systems: General Manager – Grant Potgieter.
– FUJIFILM Graphic Systems: Product Manager, Wide Format – Anja Kirton.

The first webinar is taking place 16 September 2021 at 11am (CET). Register for the free webinar and join FUJIFILM Graphic Systems as it joins forces to assist the print industry in its recovery and rebuilding, which directly influences the country at large.

This live event is sponsored by FUJIFILM Graphic Systems and the new Acuity Prime in partnership with Printing SA and SATU.

The new Fujifilm Acuity wide format range presents exciting new possibilities and forms part of the blueprint to our recovery for wide format print providers who are forward-thinking, willing to break from the traditional ways of thinking about wide format print and willing to do their homework.

FUJIFILM Graphic Systems is a leading supplier of innovative and sustainable equipment, consumables, technology, service and support to the print industry.

FUJIFILM GRAPHIC SYSTEMS SOUTH AFRICA
+27 11 430 5400
ffza-graphics@fujifilm.com
www.fujifilmgraphicsystems.co.za

As a commercial printer, how comfortable are you with your environmental credentials? Are they solidly green or perhaps a few shades lighter that you would like them to be? Have your customers or prospects started to ask you about them yet? If not, they soon will. So if you are able to demonstrate now that you have established solid sustainability goals and that you are making clear advances towards achieving them, that could give you a real competitive advantage. And potential customers will be more likely to view you as the kind of progressive company they want to work with – after all, they are probably also under pressure from their own customers to show that they have set up clearly defined sustainability policies and are putting those into practice.

By its very nature, digital printing offers many sustainability benefits, such as less waste and chemical-free production, thanks to the reduced make-ready and set-up time, together with the cost-efficient production of shorter runs matched to actual demand – even down to a run length of one. And being a digital process, the efficiency of digital printing and its consequential sustainability benefits can be maximised – and the risk of human error minimised – by putting in place fully automated workflows managed by software.

Digital printing also gives access to more sustainable business models, such as on-demand printing (sell first, then print), dynamic publishing (highly targeted content based on streamlined data workflows and automated production processes, resulting in lower page counts) and programmatic print (linking marketing automation platforms and highly-automated print production workflows).

Through the use of production inkjet technology, however, the environmental benefits of digital printing can be raised to an even higher level. If we start with print heads, most inkjet sheet and web-fed production printers use piezo print head technology, which works by rapidly passing an electric charge through a piezo crystal that flexes and, in doing so, forces a drop of ink out of a nozzle of the print head. Engineered for precision and durability, these print heads have a lifetime of thousands of hours and only need to be replaced after years of use. The long lifetime of the print heads is also aided by the close interdependency between the print head technology and inkjet inks, resulting in minimal maintenance costs.

As for inkjet inks, the most environmentally friendly are stringently manufactured aqueous pigment inks. Being water-based, the inks emit low odours, do not carry any substances of very high concern (SVHC) and are free of mineral oil, aromatic hydrocarbon (MOAH) and saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH). Look for process-colour inks that are listed in the Nordic Swan database of approved printing chemicals and that show good deinking properties according to INGEDE method 11 when combined with appropriate substrates.

Solvents used and produced in the manufacture of inks, coatings and paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), human-made chemicals that may have adverse health effects. However, sustainability-conscious suppliers ensure that the VOC emissions of ink and paper conditioning products remain well below the levels allowed by governmental guidelines. In addition, some inkjet printers use innovative technology to further reduce the impact of VOCs. For example, some drying technology uses a sufficiently low temperature that any VOC particles that do enter the paper fibres are not released into the air, which means that no exhaust air cleaning is required. Other printers also have integrated exhaust air cleaning systems that completely eliminate VOC emissions. And, of course, any inkjet production printer worth consideration should be compliant with the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive.

Having highlighted the main sustainability benefits that can be gained through adopting inkjet production technology, if they have given you real food for thought, there are also other features and sustainable benefits to seek out when considering what inkjet press to invest in. For a start, energy consumption – while a press that is robust enough for heavy duty 24/7 operations is a given, there are inkjet presses that feature low energy consumption per printed page, some even meeting the Nordic Swan requirements.

Then, allied to durability, are longevity and upgradability – as ‘digital’ machines have at times been associated with ‘built-in obsolescence’, look for an inkjet press that has proved itself in the market and offers a clear upgrade path for new features and speed enhancements, maximising the lifetime of the system and making it truly sustainable. An inkjet press that has been built to last and to operate round the clock, especially one that incorporates preventive maintenance concepts, is most likely to deliver the high levels of uptime and productivity required, and potentially up to 10 million impressions per week.

Finally, an inkjet press that can be refurbished and has multiple parts that can be recycled will also add to your sustainability credentials. So look for a supplier that maximises the economic life of its inkjet presses with a high refurbishment rate and that recycles within industry standard recycling processes a high percentage of the parts in its presses.

With sustainability becomingly an increasingly important topic for commercial printers, it is even more of a reason to think about moving some, if not all, your work to production inkjet and assessing which technology partner is going to be best for your business.

CANON SOUTH AFRICA
CZA-Marketing@canon.co.za
http://www.canon.co.za

Owners of buildings greater than 2000sqm are required to display an EPC at the entrance to their building by 31 December 2022. An EPC is valid for 5 years and quantifies and displays the Energy performance of any building as the nett energy consumed in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/sqm) and which includes heating, hot water, cooling, ventilation and lighting. This is an attempt to develop a national benchmark for buildings. All EPC’s must be submitted to the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) who is Government’s appointed and mandated custodian.

Objectives:
– Introduce mandatory requirements for the display of EPCs in non residential buildings.
– Advise on the EPC Accreditation process.

Host: Jermaine Naicker, KwaZulu-Natal Regional Manager, Printing SA.

Panellist

Gregory Diana, Energy Efficiency and Energy Management Expert

Diana has over 30 years’ research and professional consulting experience in Energy Management, Energy Efficiency, Utilities Management, Thermal Storage Systems, Large Scale Metering and Dashboard Development Analytics and Reporting. He helped UKZN to save over R50m in the above areas – this is ongoing. He is also a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional registered internationally with the AEE.

Webinar date: Thursday, 24 June 2021.
Webinar time: 10am – 11am (SAST).

Register here for your free seat. Limited seats available.

Don’t have time? Register anyway and you’ll get sent the recording automatically to watch at a later time.

PRINTING SA
+27 11 287 1160
info@printingsa.org
http://www.printingsa.org